AS 16

16

 

This hotel was known for its high consumption and luxury. Zhuang Qin had also heard of it but had not experienced it. The hotel chefs were good and several dishes had a light taste. Zhuang Qin was hungry, so he ate quickly regardless of the image of him burying his head into the meal.

 

It was very early in the morning and Xiao Lian was still sleeping so Zhuang Qin turned off the lights and closed his eyes to rest.

 

But he couldn’t fall asleep

 

For seven or eight years, he had not formally acted in a film. He was all alone in a dark room with no one to act or experience that feeling with. Obviously, the feeling of reading lines with someone was very different. Whenever you say a line, someone will pick up the next line, and that feeling was very addictive. If he could, he would like to enter the crew and start the filming right away, instead of receiving messy activity notices all day.

 

      [2 unread group messages]

 

       [Picture]

 

         “?”

 

The picture was of a black scarf that blended into a black leather sofa. It was something Li Mu accidentally discovered when he got up in the morning to contact Qiu Ming to ask him to get a lawyer. Li Mu didn’t need to think about it to know that there was no one else who would lose something like this.

 

Zhuang Qin woke up and saw this message. It’s a group of three people; he already had Director Guo’s WeChat, so this strange ID must be for Li Mu.

 

He replied on the group chat: “Sorry, it should be mine.”

 

Zhuang Qin continued: “I’ll come and get it right away, I’m downstairs, wait for ten minutes for me!”

 

He got out of bed and dressed. Outside, Xiao Lian was still sleeping. Zhuang Qin’s own work is hard, but in fact, an assistant’s work is also very hard.

 

Zhuang Qin did not wake him up and moving very lightly, he put on his shoes, a hat, and a mask, gently closed the door, and went out.

 

Taking the elevator up, Zhuang Qin knocked on the door.

 

After a few seconds, the door opened and Li Mu stood at the door. It seemed like he had just gotten up and dressed casually, and his figure was too good; with broad shoulders and long legs, he looked very good.

 

         “Can I come in?” Zhuang Qin saw that he did not speak, so he could only take the lead.

 

Li Mu nodded. His eyes swept over his hands as if to see if he had brought anything. Seeing nothing, he turned sideways to let him in and while closing the door, handed him the scarf that was resting on the back of the sofa: “Don’t throw things around next time.”

 

         ”…… okay.” Zhuang Qin tied the scarf on, “Have you signed the contract with Director Guo?”. He had spent many years in the capital learning the Beijing dialect.

 

        ”The lawyer is drafting the contract and I’ll sign it this afternoon.”

 

        ”Oh.” Zhuang Qin nodded, “Thank you for the meal last night.”

 

         ”No need.” Li Mu replied in a very restrained and polite tone, just like his personality.

 

Zhuang Qin: “….then I’ll leave first.”

 

When he reached the door, Li Mu stretched out his hand and opened it for him: “Your script was lost on the plane, now it’s at my house, next time I’ll bring it to you when I go back to Chicago.”

 

        ”Eh?”

 

Li Mu explained: “The airport had my address and sent it directly to me.”

 

Zhuang Qin was a little embarrassed, he’s had this problem since childhood: “Thank you, next time I won’t lose it. I will invite you to a meal another day.”

 

There is no expression on Li Mu’s face: “hmm.”

 

Zhuang Qin went downstairs.

 

Li Mu, this person, might not know how to act those scenes. Thinking carefully about the three films he made in his last life, almost all of them were big leading male films, and outside of ‘Hidden heart’, there was no other emotional drama.

 

It seems that to sign the contract this afternoon, the script still had to be changed.

 

Zhuang Qin checked out of his room and went home. In the afternoon, Qiu Ming came to the hotel with his lawyer and Director Guo also put down his job of drawing subplots, dressed in formal wear, and came running.

 

        ”This is the contract from my side.” Qiu Ming acted like Li Mu’s agent and handed Director Guo a few pages of paper.

 

        ”Five million for the film?” Director Guo looked directly at the most important row of numbers, and his eyes almost fell out.

 

There was only despair in his heart. Five million was not much for a good actor but he had no sufficient capital to begin with for this film.

 

Qiu Ming: “Director, your crew doesn’t even have five million to pay?”

 

        ”No ……”

 

        ”Then Zhuang Qin is your long-lost relative?”

 

         Director Guo: “……?”

 

        ”Otherwise, how can you afford his price?”

 

“To tell you the truth, on Teacher Zhuang’s side …… he did not ask for a filming fee.” This was to be kept secret, but now, to sell misery, Director Guo was unable to hold it in “My whole crew only has a total of 1.5 million. Teacher Zhuang probably pitied me because when 500,000 was offered as film pay, he returned it back to me, saying it was an investment, and it will be issued in the future when dividends are distributed.”

 

Qiu Ming was shocked: “Why did he do that?”

 

        ”I don’t know.” Director Guo thought it was hopeless. He thought these two bosses would bring capital into the group but who knew that they wanted so much money for the film. He said with loss: “It seems this cooperation is ……”

 

        ”Wait a minute, Didn’t I bring a lawyer here.” Qiu Ming interrupted him. “One and a half million and you still want to shoot a movie? A student microfilm investment is more than you! You state a price. How much investment is missing?”

 

After spending the afternoon, Director Guo walked away with the contract as if he was dreaming.

 

No one could have imagined that the person he stopped at the film school was so wealthy that he didn’t even blink and asked him, “Is 50 million enough?”.

 

Then Li Mu came and said, “Add 20 million for him to pay for other actors’ salaries.”

 

On the contract, there was a stamp of a company called Twilight Media on it. Qiu Ming introduced it: “I just opened the company; your play is the first one signed by our company”

 

The contract was changed and then changed again. With the help of the lawyer, detailed rules were added one after another, both good and bad ones. The good being that someone helped him with the camera crew, equipment, props, set, etc. The bad was that President Qiu didn’t seem to trust his directing ability and asked for an assistant director to be added in, saying it was to help him with the play.

 

As well as giving Li Mu absolute say over the script. If Li Mu refused to shoot some scenes, even if he was the director, he could not interfere.

 

Qiu Ming’s clause was naturally because of Li Mu’s character and he was afraid that he would be uncomfortable with filming those kinds of scenes. By giving him the right to delete and change the scenes, he will be able to avoid any trouble with the director in the future.

 

Looking at the total investment of 70 million, even if the investor’s conditions make him want to lose his temper, he will endure!

 

When Director Guo left the hotel, the first thing he did was to take a taxi with the redrafted contract to Zhuang Qin, on the way, he was calculating where the remaining 50 million should be spent. In the later stage for special effects and publicity, 20 million has to be set aside. 10 million In the early stage for the crew accommodation and food problems …… If there were no accidents, they can start next month.

 

Money is indeed almighty.

 

　　”I’m outside your neighborhood, teacher Zhuang. which building do you live in?”

 

”Building A, unit 3 on the 17th floor.” It was already dark. Zhuang Qin didn’t know what Director Guo came over for. Director Guo was particularly anxious on the phone when he asked to meet and talk.

 

After waiting for a few minutes, Director Guo arrived at the door.

 

Zhuang Qin opened the door and invited him in, he saw that he was sweating profusely: “Why are you sweating so much? What’s so urgent?”

 

”Give you, to  give you ……”

 

”Speak slowly and drink some water first.” Zhuang Qin went to pour hot water for him in his pajamas and heard Director Guo’s excited voice: “Got Rich!”

 

　　”You won the lottery?”

 

　　”No, No,” Director Guo took off his shoes and went in to sit down by the door, “Do you remember the one that drove the supercar that day? He invested 70 million.”

 

”Pfft… cough!” Zhuang Qin spurted out a mouthful of water.

 

Director Guo wiped the splashes of water from his face: “Part of it is for the film pay. As soon as the contract was signed I came over to find you. We will re-sign another performance contract and the pay is 10 million. Will that work?”

 

From the 20 million: 10 million to Zhuang Qin, 5 million to Li Mu, and the rest can be used to invite others to the group and their pay wasn’t high. However, Director Guo doesn’t quite understand why the person who casually added 20 million to the crew, would also ask for a salary for himself? Is it to prove that you are not working for free?

 

Although he could not understand the minds of the rich, it did not stop him from being happy. 70 million fell from the sky!

 

At Zhuang Qin’s house, he used his printer to re-print three contracts. Like before, Zhuang Qin still asked for his film’s salary to be used as an investment and then issued as dividends after the release.

 

Now Li Mu has signed the contract, and there was also a large investment to support the film, the 10 million investment can at least be doubled.

 

Director Guo went out for a meal with him and discussed a lot of details. Director Guo asked him about his free time, and Zhuang Qin said: “I don’t have much scheduled during this period so I can concentrate on the script at home. After April, there is nothing to do for four months so I can use these months for filming”

 

”Really?” Director Guo wasn’t expecting that at all, Zhuang Qin was a top traffic star. How can he be so free?

 

　　”I took a drama before and this was the time that was scheduled to shoot that drama, but now I have resigned from the role.”

 

         “So, ah ……”

 

“Director Guo if filming starts next month, what will the shooting plan look like? If it starts shooting from the first scene, I’ll have to lose weight first during this time.”

 

That’s because, in the early stage of this film, An ke should be very thin and malnourished to the point that one can touch his bones. He was left unattended for a long time, and it was inconvenient to cook by himself. After Jiang Zhuo shared a room with him, he had regular three meals and ate more meat so he slowly became healthier.

 

“No, no, I’ve got it all figured out, I’ll start shooting from the middle section and line up the order later. Of course, there is also a downside to shooting from the middle. You have seen with Li Mu’s character that emotional scenes may be difficult. You two don’t spend much time together so during this period of time, I’ll go to Thailand to arrange the set, you can get familiar with him when you have time in China, and get acquainted with the lines and so on.”

 

 Zhuang Qin said okay.

 

On the other side, Li Mu and Qiu Ming also made a reservation at a restaurant.

 

　　”I really didn’t expect you to pick up that film.” Qiu Ming casually said to the waiter: “Do you have any recommended dishes today?”

 

The waiter reported the names of the dishes, and Qiu Ming nodded, “Just these dishes, one of each.”

 

He ordered the wine and heard Li Mu say, “Before Grandpa died, that director was still a reporter and came to interview Grandpa.”

 

　　”What?” Qiu Ming looked up.

 

”There were a lot of things I didn’t know but learned from his articles.” Only then did Li Mu realize that he didn’t know as much about his grandfather as an outsider did.

 

”So you appreciate that little director?” He knew that Li Mu actually hated contact with strangers, not to mention strangers, even people he knew very well, he would rarely have intimate contact with, as if he was born with a lack of affection.

 

　　”Not really, when I auditioned for a scene with that little actor yesterday …… I felt that it would not be boring.” While acting, he became less like himself. It seemed that his feelings became more abundant and his emotions became more intense which is an interesting phenomenon.

 

　　”And don’t you always say that I don’t understand love. Isn’t it interesting to talk about it in the drama and learn for once?” Reality was uninteresting, while life in the drama was so much richer.

 

　　 “Ah! I understand,” Qiu Ming suddenly realized something and his smile widened: “you’re trying to pick up the fresh meat ¹newcomer!”

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